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Is Uber Legal in Jacksonville
Publisher/Executive Editor: David Vandygriff publisher@cityxtramagazine.com
By Gordon T Nicol
Race Relations in Jacksonville By Jake Russell
Creative Designer: Jason Smith designer@cityxtramagazine.com
Being a Double Minority By James Johnson
FDA Continues GAY Discrimination By Tyler Curry
Anti-HRO & Racist Airwaves By David Vandygriff
How White People Can Raise Racially Conscious Children By Bree Ervin
Editor In Chief: Harvey Carr editor@cityxtramagazine.com
Sales Department: Carlos Martinez sales@cityxtramagazine.com cityXtra Magazine is published by cityXtra Magazine, LLC. 2941 Plum Street Jacksonville, FL 32205 (904) 410-9592 www.cityxtramagazine.com Like us on Facebook/cityxtramag Twitter/cityxtra
Contributing Writers Laura Riggs, Dr. Harvey Carr, Attorney Gordon Nicol, Meredith O’Malley Johnson, Tina Vaughn, Jake Moore, Tyler Curry Editor HIV Equal Online, Sebastian Fortino, David Vandygriff, Joey Amato Publisher Unite Magazine
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Is Uber Legal in Jacksonville By Atty Gordon T Nicol
On-Demand Transportation via Uber: BUT IS IT LEGAL? Most everyone has heard about Uber as an alternative to taxi cabs. This is a series of articles that will explain how Uber works, the laws, and the legal risks you face as a consumer/passenger. Remember the last time you stood on a street corner in the rain, waiting for an available taxi to drive by and pick you up? Me neither. Instead, we pull out our smartphones, tap the Uber app, and within ten minutes or less, our driver arrives—all while we wait inside, warm and dry.
mount before you send your request. Is Uber legal?
Like every law in every State it depends on who you talk to. In 2014, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, FOIR, required that Uber and the drivers provide insurance coverage for Modern technology has introduced us to numeraccidents. Unfortunately, FOIR delegated another ous ways to address our daily needs directly from Florida agency to decide whether Uber's our smartphones. Banking services, shopping, insurance meets all of the state requirements. The music, communicating with others—all at the second agency, the Department of Highway touch of an icon. And just when we thought we Safety and Motor Vehicles, had to decide whether had it all, e-hail apps, such as Uber, emerge to the corporate policy, and the drivers’ personal make our lives even easier. In an unfamiliar city auto policies provides the insurance coverage and want to go to dinner? Tap the app. Want to necessary under Florida laws. As of publication attend a concert downtown but don’t want to fight the State of Florida has still not resolved this the traffic? Tap the app. Out late with friends and issue. This means you as a consumer may not ready to go, but your driver isn’t? Tap the app. An have enough insurance coverage for an accident. Uber driver can take you wherever you need to VERY DANGEROUS. go. The above article is general in nature and should Using Uber’s services is quite simple: tap the app, schedule a pickup location, and request a ride. A driver in the area accepts the request, and you get an estimated time of arrival. The fare is automatically charged to the method of payment you have on file, so there are no cash transactions or payments of any kind at the time of service. Plus, to avoid any cost-related surprises, there is an option to estimate the fare a
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not be relied upon for specific legal advice. Every legal situation is different.
Gordon T. Nicol, Attorney at Law www.YourJacksonvilleLawyer.com Legal Representation through the State of Florida 7545 Centurion Parkway, Suite 108 Jacksonville, FL 32256 E-mail: helpdesk@yourjacksonvillelawyer.com Ph.: 904-384-4911
Race Relations in Jacksonville By Jake Russell
President Barack Obama's election is the result of a general, steady decline of racial prejudice over time, coupled with Obama's efforts in his campaign to transcend race in ways that minimized the effects of traditional stereotypes and racism that may have been directed toward him. Attitudes toward Obama changed because people got to see him as an exceptional person during an exceptional time. His election has the potential to reduce prejudice in dramatic, unprecedented ways. Nevertheless, attitudes toward blacks as a whole will not change overnight simply because of the election of a black president. Attitudes, particularly racial prejudice, which serves a number of psychological and material functions, often have a basic core that is resistant to change—but people are able to incorporate new information and change their attitudes with new experiences. Obama's election offers America unique and profound new racial experiences. In a study conducted by the Dupont Fund in 2006, it was discovered that in order for Jacksonville to become a viable growing city we would have to address our current race relations by:
and economically disadvantaged. Develop strategies to address the racial tensions that exist in the community. Sustainable communities adhere to principles of social justice and equity in economic and community development efforts. Racial tensions can affect all areas of the community, including economic development and quality of life. Paralleling efforts in other communities attempting to brand themselves as sustainable places, local officials should consider civic entrepreneurial approaches and strategies to address the disparities that undergird racial tensions in the Jacksonville community. A final area in which Jacksonville should concentrate on improvements is in the area of race relations. Racial disparities are perceived to exist in the areas of education, income and employment, housing, health, criminal justice, and politics. The Jacksonville Community Council has developed an annual report card to report on the state of race relations in the community, and the sense of the community is that this is a positive step, but more effort is needed in this area as poor relations are a deterrent to economic growth and development.
Striving to reduce, to the maximum extent possible, geographical, racial and/or ethnic, and class disparities by investing substantial resources in an array of community-building institutions (e.g., the YMCA, the YWCA, and the Boys and Girls Club) that seek to mend the social fabric and provide bridges to education and economic mainstream for their A unique opportunity also exists to increase members, especially those who are socially minority-owned business development in www.cityxtramagazine.com 8
Race Relations in Jacksonville Continued
Jacksonville. Jacksonville was one of five cities chosen to participate in The Urban Entrepreneurship Partnership, a nationally organized initiative by the White House and The Wachovia Foundation. The Jacksonville Economic Empowerment Center, run by the Jacksonville Urban League, provides business training, counseling, financing and procurement opportunities to minority and urban business owners. Additionally, the city could use tax incentives to encourage economic growth in low income areas.
psychological processes that lead to bias, most whites also unconsciously harbor negative feelings toward blacks. This combination of being nonprejudiced consciously but possessing bias unconsciously produces subtle, rather than Attitudes develop with the accumulation of blatant, discrimination. Aversive racists typically experience and associations over time. They are don't discriminate against a black person in inherently functional—they help us orient situations where right and wrong are clearly ourselves to others and the environment in ways defined. However, because of their unconscious perceived to benefit us. The world would be chaos negative feelings and beliefs, aversive racists will if we changed our attitudes toward people and discriminate, but primarily in situations in which objects too easily. Thus, attitudes typically evolve right and wrong are not clearly defined or in which slowly, often becoming more complex and they can justify or rationalize a negative response nuanced over time; rapid, wholesale change in on the basis of some factor other than race. Thus, attitudes is rare. discrimination that disadvantages blacks will occur, but in a way that permits the denial of racial One of the best ways to change attitudes is motivations. Aversive racists have a good set of through intergroup contact. Attitudes are not s values; the problem is they're not as good as they imply about the way you think about a group; they think they are. are also about how you feel about a group. In America, whites have been able to change their Finally, Jacksonville should continue its efforts to minds about racism faster than they have been improve race relations through its Race Relations able to change their deep-seated, and often Progress Report. It should also develop programs unconscious, feelings. The vast majority of white to enhance the growing diversity in the community Americans know we should be non-prejudiced and to address the issues identified by the and egalitarian. But the emotional impact, the progress report. Such efforts should be "gut" impact, that race has on people still lags undertaken not solely for social or moral reasons. behind. So, to truly change attitudes at their core Rather, they should be undertaken for reasons of requires direct interracial experiences that are enlightened self-interest in the increasingly positive and personal, and which replace feelings diverse global marketplace. of fear and anxiety with those of empathy, connection and respect for members of another "We've got deep seeded issues that we haven't group. fully dealt with here," she said. "It allows us to be proactive and prevent similar types of violence How do these conflicting forces get reconciled? At from happening right here,� says Jeffrianne a conscious level, most whites embrace these Wilder, who is an Associate Professor of egalitarian values in a very sincere way. But Sociology at the University of North Florida. because of the basic, virtually universal,
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Being a Double Minority By James Johnson
It's been a long time coming, but no time is better than now. Yes, for decades, the face of LGBT representation has been dominated by white people, predominately cisgender gay white men. And as much as we would like to continue to blame cultural stigmas within other cultures for why there has not been such a huge turnaround of faster diversity -- it's time we start looking inward. Fact: I am an openly gay black man. Another fact: as disappointing as it may sound, experiencing racism as a "double-minority" has been felt within both communities. I can be racially profiled at a store as a black man and can then be treated as a pariah at a gay club the same night by the white men and bouncers who occupy the space.
fight? Who sets that agenda? And where are LGBT allies when it comes to the racial injustices we face outside of queer politics? In a community that boasts acceptance and equality, the LGBT community as a whole has been stagnant on rallying for other social issues that deeply impact a great number of its members and allies.
When other human rights groups were at As a resident for five years, I felt that "The Ferguson or Baltimore -- many LGBT Gayborhood" was not the happiest place in my organizations said/posted nothing about the queer city if you were black and queer but more like the people of color who might have been afflicted. most excluding one at times. As I have gotten older, it has become more The reaction was more critical than receptive. Fun difficult to ignore the intersectionality that has fact: the majority of the critics were white gay colored my experience as a gay black man. In one men. And that is the problem. sphere, I am told that being black has nothing to When I look at queer programs, both local and do with being gay. And in the other, I am national, there tends to be a social disconnect reminded that race is irrelevant to the between the reality that is being portrayed publicly conversation. and what is happening privately. People of color are often the voyeurism that shapes white queer spaces -- a feeling that has become more exploitative and problematic than embracing.
Both of these are lies and as much as one community wants to act as though they are more accepting than the other, it's difficult for me to decide right now.
The constant pandering of black LGBT men as drag-ballroom performers or hyper-sexual eye-candy takes flight in many gay social scenes. There is almost a subservient element to it that excludes any other black gay expression that isn't catering to the white queer gaze.
Sure, the black community can be labeled as having deep-seated homophobic views. But that lame trope is getting old when you take in consideration the current LGBT movement's lack of recognizing variety and sympathy for people of color in general.
In other words, the various identities of queer individuals of color have not evolved and many of the institutions and spaces that are responsible for allowing them to have not. Take the fight for marriage equality for example, where have people of color been individually called on to take up that
I'm sorry, but having a few famous black drag queens and transgender superstars does not make this issue go away.
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The most annoying misconception that has often hurt further dialogue on this issue is the myths that talking about racism within our community will
Being a Double Minority Continued
distract from other social causes we are trying to achieve. At the end of the day, when we are finally over the constant focus on marriage quality -- a cause that in my opinion reveals the privilege of our community, in regards to priorities -- we should start getting real about what the faces and spaces of the next LGBT movement look like. Answer: more diverse and colorful. Because the constant recycling of Dan Savage and many other white, cisgender men like him turns off aspiring LGBT members of color to come out and align themselves within the movement. Overall, there needs to be a time for us to come out and get serious about the lack of diversity in LGBT leadership nation-wide. It is not enough to just have black, Latino, Asian, and Native Americans in the room but not actually invite their stories and experiences as well. Visibility is one thing, but access and equity is another. We need to start expanding the conversation on race in these conventions and not just for LGBT members of color but for their white counterparts. I don't just want specialized events and socials catered to me due to my race, but instead more intellectual space and opportunity to inform and enlighten the very members whom I share an interest in activism with. It's time to start addressing the racial setbacks in the current LGBT movement. If we don't now, we are never going to obtain that pot of gold equality on the other side of the diverse rainbow.
FDA Continues GAY Discrimination By Tyler Curry
Last month, the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifted the 32-year-old lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. But in the ban's place now reads a new discriminatory policy that is possibly worse. In the closing of 2015, a year that has yielded victories for LGBT rights, a federal agency implemented a new policy requiring gay men to remain abstinent for 12 months before giving blood. In other words, gay and bisexual men can give blood, but only if they give up acting on “being gay.” Even though a fourth generation HIV test will pick up 95 percent of new infections within 28 days and a confirmatory western-blot test is 100 percent accurate, gay men are required to remain abstinent for one whole year. Discrimination, straight up with no chaser. Today, new infections have dropped to around 40,000 a year and we have the technology and medical resources to wipe out AIDS diagnoses for good. HIV is a no longer fatal, but completely manageable. With the approval of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and the science being treatment as prevention (TasP), gay and bisexual men can navigate their sexual lives with 100 percent certainty that they are HIVnegative. Yet, with the partial lift, the FDA intentionally established new policy that treats all gay men as if it is impossible to manage their HIV status and engage in safe relationships with HIV-positive people. One Facebook user wrote, “So, if you’re a gay man in a monogamous relationship with your legally married husband, you are ineligible to donate blood. If you’re a heterosexual man who is legally married to a
woman but has random and anonymous sexual encounters every week with women, step right up, you’re 100 percent eligible to donate blood.” Interestingly enough, there was never movement to restrict African-American women from donating blood, though at one point this population represented the biggest increase in new HIV infection within the country. However, the idea of proposing a ban or enacting a policy requiring 12 months of abstinence from Black women would be preposterous, not to mention completely racist. But a policy banning sexually active gay men? That is acceptable, and it is because rationalized homophobia is still acceptable so long as it is thinly justified. By the FDA’s own current safety protocols, every person who donates blood – gay, bisexual, heterosexual, or otherwise – will have their blood tested for infectious diseases including HIV. Plainly, the new partial lift of blood donations from gay men doesn’t reflect the current state of the disease. Instead, it perpetuates a rationalized phobia of gay and bisexual men and the stereotype that the majority of gay men are HIV-positive. I do, want an LGBT culture where HIV is no longer seen as a dark mark that gay and bisexual men should be ashamed of. And this, my friends, is a resounding step in the wrong direction.
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Anti-HRO & Racist Airwaves By David Vandygriff
As I read and saw the articles and news coverage today about our anti-HRO foe’s current radio ads, I had to speak up. According to FloridaPolitics.com the radio ads being ran by anti-HRO are: “With all the problems in Districts 7, 8, 9 and 10, the last thing the City of Jacksonville needs is for the black church to become weak and anemic, and we believe if the HRO bill is passed, that’s exactly what’s going to happen,” said part of one ad put out by a group of churches and Christian business owners. The group believes that if the city passes the HRO, Jacksonville churches will be targeted by the LGBT community. Districts 7, 8, 9, & 10 are Reggie Gaffney, Katrina Brown, Reggie Brown, and Garrett Dennis. Reggie Gaffney stated during the City Council election at the Union Hall in Springfield, that he would support a fully inclusive HRO. Reggie Brown voted against the HRO in 2012. Garrett Dennis has said too many members of the LGBT community that he was supportive during the past election cycle. Katrina Brown has remained silent through-out her past election cycle on the issue and continues to do so today.
The time of sitting by and allowing this human being to turn the rights of LGBT in Jacksonville into a race issue is over. It is appalling and every black person should tell the self-proclaimed bishop that he does not represent the majority of our black community members. Many of us know the money he is operating is not from the black churches, but in fact from those white pastors hiding behind their hoods or rather their own pulpits. The white pastors that wish to deny LGBT human rights are the very same ones 50 years ago, that wanted to deny blacks the same human rights.
The self-proclaimed bishop was just less than a year ago supporting the HRO protections for LGBT and now that there is money flowing from the white churches he has switched sides. None of the churches are suffering any lost tithes nor I will start off by saying that the HRO has ZERO to being forced to conduct gay marriages nor will they be required to do so after the passage of the do with same sex marriage and/or the black church. As an honorary member of black church in HRO protecting LGBT in Jacksonville. Springfield, I personally take offense to a black The HRO expansion is clear that a religious self-proclaimed bishop supporting Donald Trump exemption is in place to protect religious beliefs. for President and spinning his lies about the HRO Now we have the men of God telling lies via a expansion, to be the ultimate betrayal to the black radio ad. What happened to 10 commandant’s community. pastors? Sin is sin and if you choose to say that Furthermore, for this self-proclaimed bishop to be homosexuality is a sin, well sir you are now equal in God’s eyes as a sinner no different than a standing side-by-side with Liberty Counsel, a homosexual you claim to be a sinner. designated hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is the biggest disservice to the black community in Districts 7, 8, 9, & 10. A little known fact is that Liberty Counsel has brought a law suit against the Southern Poverty Law Center. The black community and frankly the entire United States owes a great debt to the SPLC for all of its past work in protecting minorities. Without the SPLC black communities and the black church would be, “weak and anemic.”
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Maybe those pastors should have a long talk with Bishop T.D. Jakes, whom said the church and state should remain separate and that LGBT should be protected early this week. T.D. Jakes is the Bishop of The Potter’s House with over 30,000 members. Don’t try to quote me Leviticus or say “he who cast the first stone,” garbage. Because you sir and all
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Anti-HRO & Racist Airwaves Continued
of your friends have already “cast the first stone.” May God forgive you all, but for now I have to really pray to God for the ability to forgive you and your friends, but I refuse to continue to turn the other cheek as my community is continued to be discriminated against by you and your friends. Let the City Council do its job and pass the legislation that over 60% of Jacksonville’s citizens believe should be implemented. The legislative process is the right process to ensure both sides are able to compromise and comprise a bill that will be fair to ALL citizens of Jacksonville. No voter referendum. In the words of Rachel Maddow, “Here’s the thing about rights. They’re not actually supposed to be voted on. That’s why they’re called rights.” In closing nobody can under estimate the work of the LGBT community during the last election cycle. Many that opposed the HRO expansion in 2012 did not return to the City Council and our Mayor that sat silent was not re-elected. Therefore, I give this tidbit of advice to current City Council members, if you vote no, we will help to ensure you are not re-elected. We done it in 2015 with great success and will do it again in 2019 if need be. CALL-TO-ACTION: Please send an email and phone call to District 7, 8, 9, & 10 asking them to support a fully inclusive HRO protecting LGBT in Jacksonville. District 7 Reggie Gaffney (904) 630-1384 RGaffney@coj.net District 8 Katrina Brown (904) 630-1385 KBrown@coj.net District 9 Garrett Dennis (904) 630-1395 GarrettD@coj.net District 10 Reginald Brown (904) 630-1685 RBrown@coj.net “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.“
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How White People Can Raise Racially Conscious Children There is a lot of fear and uncertainty about this topic – from worrying that by pointing out race we are contributing to racism, to believing that by ignoring race we are creating a “color-blind” and therefore more equal world; some simply don’t know how or where to start. And we need to get over it. Remaining silent on the topic of race isn’t helping our children, and it isn’t moving the needle any closer to equality. In fact, science shows that it may be doing the exact opposite. Children experience race. They need our help to understand and contextualize it, to understand what it means, how it is used and misused, and how America’s current and historical racial constructs either benefit or harm them and their friends. I think most parents have similar goals when it comes to how they want to raise their children to handle issues of race. First, we want to raise children who judge and assess the individuals they meet based on behavior, likes and dislikes, commonalities, and values – not the color of their skin or the origin of their recent ancestors.
Race is a tricky thing in America, and educating our youth about it is a process, but there are a few things everyone can do to make it better. 1. Recognize that children experience race and that they need help to understand and contextualize it. 2. Make a conscious effort to share books, movies, and other media with your children that present diverse viewpoints and story lines. 3. Take advantage of every opportunity to talk about race in America. 4. Address your privilege and the ways you benefit from institutionalized racism, but also the ways it can allow you to challenge the system. 5. Teach your children to be “upstanders” to their peers. 6. Be careful not to paint people of color as lost and persecuted souls looking for a White Knight! Race is still a tricky issue in America. For all our efforts, we are not yet living in a “color-blind” or “post-racial” world.
It is important for parents of all races to talk about the racial history of America and the ways that history still affects our present reality. For most parents of color, discussions of race and how race affect their lives are not a luxury, but a necessity. If White parents truly want to help bend the arc of history closer to justice, we need to stop treating it Last, we want to raise children who understand as a luxury. We need to call out racial inequalities the difference between being a supportive ally and and help our children to see and challenge racial being a White Knight, and to see people not as injustices. others who need saving, but as equals who need Only by being open and honest and by actively friendship. challenging stereotypes can we help our children It turns out the best way to meet these goals is to understand the racial messages they see all have honest, in depth, and specific conversations around them and put them into a context that will about race with the children in our care. help them become allies for justice. Second, we want to raise children who understand that their ability and willingness to see people as people is not universal. We want to raise them to see and to call out racism and bigotry in the world around them. We want them to refuse to accept it or give it a pass.
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